He was quite a gentleman and definitely a heck of a racer. I went out to Phx Int'l Raceway about a month prior to his death and he was there testing tires for Firestone with the Andretti/Brawner team among others. I got to meet him and his well mannered personna left a lasting impression on me.

It seems that everytime I reminisce about him I recall the chapter in Andy Granitelli's "They Call me Mr. 500" biography about Jim getting ready to qualify for the 1966 500 (Al Unser Sr. was his teammate that year). Andy mentioned that it was always his habit of reaching down to tug on his driver's belts just before they went out. This particular time, Andy reached down and Jim grabbed his arm and gave a steely eyed stare down to him without saying a word. Andy pulled his hand back, and Jim went out and did his laps. Afterwards he then informed Andy (when he asked) that the belts literally broke when he went to tighten them.

Any miscue during the qualifying attempt, and Dale Sr's broken belt issue would have surfaced close to 40 years earlier.